Body Size, Not Personality, Explains Both Male Mating Success and Sexual Cannibalism in a Widow Spider

Simple Summary The role of personality in sexual selection has mostly been investigated on vertebrate species, in which males provide direct benefits to females or offspring. Less is known about the links between behavioral variation and sexual selection in species where males provide only sperm, while the advantages of female-choice are due to male genes that increase offspring fitness. Our study is centered on a sexually-size dimorphic spider species, the Mediterranean black widow, which is ideal to investigate how sexual selection shapes behavior. In this species, a male-biased operational sex-ratio leads to male-male competition, and aggressive and/or large males should have a selective advantage. Females are selected for fecundity, which should correlate with selection for higher voraciousness. Theory predicts that voracity spills-over into the mating context, such that voracity towards prey correlates with voracity towards mates. We tested how body size and two behaviors, male aggression toward rivals and female voracity toward prey, influence mating behavior, mating success, and sexual cannibalism. We show that individual variation in aggression does not play a direct role in the mating behavior of this species. Instead, body size affects male mating success and the occurrence of sexual cannibalism in females. Theory suggests that consistent individual variation in behavior relates to fitness, but few studies have empirically examined the role of personalities in mate choice, male-male competition and reproductive success. We observed the Mediterranean black widow, Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, in the individual and mating context, to test how body size measures and two functionally important aggressive behaviors, i.e., male aggression towards rivals and female voracity towards prey, affect mating behaviors, mating success and sexual cannibalism. We specifically selected voracity towards prey in females to test the aggressive spillover hypothesis, suggesting that more voracious females are more sexually cannibalistic. Both females and males exhibit consistent individual differences in the examined aggressive behaviors. While larger males win contests more often and achieve more copulations, neither male nor female size measures correlate to aggression. Female voracity does not correlate with aggression towards mates and sexual cannibalism, rejecting the spillover hypothesis. However, occurrence of sexual cannibalism positively relates to longer insertion duration. Furthermore, the smaller the ratio between male and female body length the more likely a female attacked and cannibalized a mate. We show that individual variation in aggression levels plays no direct role in the mating behavior of the Mediterranean black widow. Instead, body size affects male mating success and occurrences of sexual cannibalism in females.

Automated summary

The study focuses on the Mediterranean black widow spider species, investigating how body size and aggressive behaviors influence mating behavior, mating success, and sexual cannibalism. Results show that individual variation in aggression levels does not play a direct role in mating behavior, but body size affects male mating success and the occurrence of sexual cannibalism in females.